A Niagara Falls, NY aquarium!

This weekend, some friends from Rochester came over and we decided to go somewhere we’ve never been before - the Aquarium of Niagara.

While I've been to Marineland and Sea World, I've never been to just an aquarium. I had no idea what to expect.

The New York side of Niagara Falls is always blasted for having nothing to do, and that couldn’t be further from the truth. The park alongside the falls is amazing - you could spend an entire day just there and have a great time! And there's now a lot of fun attractions to check out too.

One of them being the Aquarium of Niagara. While it’s within walking distance of the falls, it’s all but invisible on 3rd Street. There’s free parking if you visit the aquarium and it was only $9 to get in, $6 for kids, and free for anyone three & under (and there's discounts for AAA members).

The penguins were fun to watch (the highlight for Mary & Nicole was watching the penguin feeding) and the sea lion show was great. They even had a Vegas-like magic show upstairs with Rob & Carol Allen.

My favorite part was the seals in their outside viewing area. At 11:00am and 1:45pm, you can buy a cup of fish to feed the seals. Make sure you read the bios for the seals too - each one proves how nice this aquarium is. And the demonstration and Q&A session was informative and entertaining.

The aquarium also has intimate “Encounter” & “Trainer For A Day” programs available. Check out their website for all the details.

I also enjoyed seeing the piranha and the anemonefish (yes, the “Nemo” fish) along with the many other aquariums throughout the building. Make sure you notice the little cartoon captions above some of the aquariums - they're pretty funny (and easy to miss if you're not looking for them).

And try the interactive games scattered around. One of them is to see how long you can hold your breath - can you beat my 1:02? My friends sure couldn’t. I could have gone a few more seconds, but that number seemed a good time to stop.

I can’t believe I’ve lived in western New York most of my life and have never been here. I'll definitely be going back!

So if you’re looking for something to do, check out the Aquarium of Niagara - I promise you, you'll have fun. And the penguins, seals, sea lions, sharks, and even the piranha will be happy to see you. Just watch out when those piranha smile...